A Must Have for Writers on the Elusive Agent Hunt!

Authoress, the anonymous champion of all aspiring writers, has done it again! Her latest endeavor is a no nonsense guide to starting that agent hunt and the tools to avoid pitfalls that so many of us fall into.

Many of you are familiar with her blog http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/ and her Hook the Agent contests. She also has many crit opportunities for her blog followers.

Over-all, she's just one of those really helpful people that try and make a difference by sharing her time, words of wisdom, and giving other's a chance to get a leg up in the elusive agent hunt. That being said, her new e-book release is now available:

This can be purchased for $9.99 on Authoress's blog (the link is above). It is an e-book, so talk about instant gratification!

The resources that she gives you are priceless. You could spend months and months researching these things on the web, read books on getting published (which are certainly not going to be cheaper), and would still be left wondering where to start.

Authoress has given you the tools, the lists (I so love lists), and the places to go so that you can too can find an agent, and then how to go about getting an agent that is right for you.

If you have written, are writing, or even thinking about writing something, this is a tool that you NEED. Go visit her blog, look around, and order her book. I promise you won't be sorry!

Oh yeah, and tell her Terri sent you...not that I get a kick-back, but I have a secret fantasy that maybe she's Nora Roberts, or JK Rowling, or Diana Gabaldon and I'd like to have brownie points!

Blog Chain Blatherskite

Sorry for my absence, I promise there are more ghost stories coming soon!

Until then, it's that time again! My turn on the chain gang...

The chain started with Kate ( http://katekaryusquinn.blogspot.com/ ) and the last post was Elana ( http://elanajohnson.blogspot.com/ ). Be sure you check out the writers on the chain, cause let me tell ya, writer or not, they have some very insightful posts!

So, here's the question this time around:

How, as a writer, do you find the balance between having too much or too little confidence in your work?

As with so many writers in the chain before me, I have that ego swelling, that self-importance when you write. That "Aha!" moment when you say to yourself, "Damn, that's good stuff!".

You read it again, and you send it off to your crit partners. Then with each small suggestion, correction, and truthful comment, that initial, "Damn I'm good" turns into "Well crap, I thought it was good, but I see where they are coming from..."

You move on to revisions....endless revisions it seems. Here, you ride the confidence roller coaster.

I learned early on that criticism in any form is hard to take. In the end though, it only helps to make you a better writer. It's true what they say..."If it doesn't kill ya, then it will make ya stronger".

I will admit that anyone who has rejection issues should NEVER try and get published. The confidence level drops even further when those rejections come in for your phenomenal work that you just know is the best novel ever written.

I think the same should apply to those with a super-ego...no need to make excuses when you get rejected...LEARN from it...GROW as a writer.

Until this chain question, I really hadn't given my confidence level much thought. I know there are writers out there with far more education, far more talent, and far more tools to succeed in publishing, but it has never intimidated me. I want others to succeed. I get excited when one of my crit partners gets a request for a partial, and even more so when it's for a full. Someone else's success should only boost your own confidence, never deflate it.

I suppose I should pass the chain on over to Leah ( http://leahclifford.livejournal.com/ ) , but never fear, I'll be back this week with another ghost story, I'm just waiting on some pictures to go with it...it's about my trip to an old abandoned hospital with a REAL paranormal research team!!!

My First Blog Chain Post!

I was lucky enough to be invited to become a member of a blog chain. This blog chain is made up of WRITERS!

These wonderful, like-minded individuals (yeah, I know I'm sucking up here...my regular blogger friends just keep a lid on it) are members of QueryTracker and also RallyStorm. They have several forums set up, (a romance writers critique group, blog chain group, and a general romance writers forum) that are by invitation only.

How cool is that????

If you are anything like me, you have no idea how a blog chain works. From what I understand so far, I will link to the last person in the chain who posted, http://www.colegibsen.blogspot.com/ Senshi....and then to the next person to post http://brimfire.livejournal.com/ Brimfire.

http://leahclifford.livejournal.com/ GypsyGurl started this chain.

Kiddoc, http://hldyer.wordpress.com/ will pick the next topic and be posting soon, so go check her out!

Speaking of topics, this one is, "How real are your characters?". So here we go:

I have heard many writers can see/hear, sometimes even smell their characters (never smelled mine). When I started writing TCH, it wasn't to become published, or to write a book, it just evolved into the historical romance that it is now.

Originally, it was just to tell a story. A story that Margaret, my main character, was telling and showing me. Sounds a bit schizophrenic, huh? All of my characters speak to me, some more than others, of course.

One of my favorite characters was a complete surprise to me when he showed up. I was writing a scene towards the end of TCH, and Margaret sat in the garden, on a bench, alone. It was early morning, and I could see the swirl of fog covering the ground. Footsteps could be heard coming down the path, and a figure emerged from the wall of mist.

I typed as he made his way toward Margaret, describing the boots, the long overcoat, that swirled about him. Upward to the long dark blonde hair, chiseled jaw, intense stare...I was expecting Patrick, but instead it was one Duncan McCue (picture Fabio, add a Scottish accent, and NEVER EVER think of the word BUTTER....that's pretty darn close!) .

He will be my MC in the third book, and I so can't wait! I wanted him to be a pirate, but he had other ideas. He was a bit too honorable for that, but not quite so honorable that he wouldn't smuggle Scottish Whiskey to France, so the Brits couldn't tax it. So we both ended up happy over his chosen vocation.

Um, I guess, as you can see, my characters are very real to me. That is also a problem when you write. YOU know so much about them, that often while writing, you neglect to point things out that the reader may not know.

That's where crit groups come in! If they don't know your characters, or your story, it's easy for them to question the why, when, where, or how that you already know, but perhaps didn't convey well.

Okay, now I can't wait for my next topic! Be sure to check out the blog chain members, they are all great!

Unexcused Absence

I received an email today from one of my favorite blogger friends. She hadn't seen me around in a while, both here and on other's blogs that I normally post daily on. I think she thought I had fallen off the face of the earth!

The truth is, I've been so very busy! I joined two new writer's crit groups, which I LOVE! I have also joined a blog chain of writers (more on that later).

I started back on revisions for TCH (yes, AGAIN). I also started a ....drum roll please....DIET!

In 38 plus years, I have never been on a diet! It's not that I haven't needed to, I just never really cared. I earned every hail damage mark on my thighs I tell ya! And so what if I won't wear a bathing suit...EVER. But then my husband, Mr. I've had two heart attacks, decided to lose the extra weight. I know from experience that it's really hard to stick to ANYTHING without support. And....since he always supports me when I write, instead of cleaning or doing laundry (as long as I don't make a habit of it, mind you), then I decided to support him.

Now, you might think this is an easy thing to do. Let me tell you....IT'S SO NOT! I had to give up my Pepsi (which I drank a 2 liter a day), and NO CHOCOLATE! That's right, I love my husband enough to give up the two things that keep me up all hours of the night doing what I love....writing!

So, now I am cranky, tired as hell, but I have only cheated the first night (ate a cold piece of pizza at midnight, cause I was STARVING). Today marks one full week. I get a slice of cheese and a slice of lunch meat (yummy Cajun turkey) at lunch and at dinner. THAT'S IT! Well, I can have pickles and mustard with it, and certain veggies. But NO CARBS....

I hope he knows how much I am sacrificing for him...Mounds, with it's creamy coconut, Reese's with the mixture of peanut butter and chocolate mmmm, chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered cherries....OMG this SUCKS!

Okay, on top of food deprivation, and a VERY active writing life, we also have the start of not only high school and jr. high school football (which both oldest daughters have to attend, one being on the pom squad, the other a football manager), but we have SOONER FOOTBALL!

For those of you who don't follow NCAA football, OU (the University of Oklahoma) is going to have a banner year. My husband predicts (and I do concur), that we will play for the National Title this year. Yes, people, OU is just THAT good!

On that note, I will end this, as I have work to catch up on, and a Diet Pepsi Max (ick) calling my name.